Wasilla Hillbilly:The point is that home brewing hasn't killed the market and neither would legal home growing, but it definitely could make a huge dent in Mexican and Canadian imports, especially if made legal to sell in stores.

In fact, homebrewing has done quite the opposite. It has increased the beer market, and shifted the market demand to a broader scope of brews. It has induced more interest in beer itself, and the process of making it. There are more active breweries open now than before homebrewing was legal. And that number keeps increasing.

Once (if) MJ is legalized, you'll see a selection in a store much like you see with beer now. There will be the mass produced generic "this'll get you high" cheaper varieties, then there will be more catered strains for specific uses and effects. Even aroma and flavor will be marketable. There will be certain demographics who would grow some at home, just like homebrewers, but they'd mostly likely still buy at least some commercial strains, such as the ones they can't or don't grow at home, just like homebrewers still buy at least some commercial beer. These demographics may grow and shrink, but the fact that both corporate and micro breweries continue to thrive while homebrewing spreads across the country says a lot - mainly that an overwhelming majority don't make their own product(s) at home.

SquiggsIN:Just like brewing your own beer or wine, with legalized cannabis there will be ridiculous regulations preventing the sale or transfer to other parties. Most people will seek distributors for the convenience factor. However, just like microbrewers/vintners, there will always be connoisseurs who see their products as an art form and would want to grow their own.

santadog:I live in Colorado. Right now "almost" anyone can grow their own stashes, and they / I don't. Anyone can grow "weed", not everyone can grow quality Med Mar. How many people grow their own tobacco? Anyone can grow tobacco.. but they don't.

Sorta, but people tend to miss the big point about marijuana. Achieving high end yields is really only particularly difficult when you're trying to hide it. If you were allowed to fence it off in your yard like your tomatoes, it's actually EASIER than tomatoes. It's the control needed for stealth and tight areas and producing a lot all at once that's hard. If it was legal, anyone could pick up a flat of marijuana seedlings at Lowes or Home Depot and produce regular quantities of sufficiently potent smokable marijuana. Most people won't bother to for the same reason as growing lettuce or tomatoes, NOT tobacco. Tobacco you actually need a reasonable amount of space to grow sufficient vegetative matter and reduce it down by drying. A decent size vegetable garden produce copious amounts of marijuana with only a couple plants, if you were allowed to let the things get to six feet tall and six feet wide.

Sure, people will always be able to produce denser, tastier, and more potent buds if they know what they are doing, but if I could replace my cherry tomatoes in my backyard with a marijuana bush of similar size, I could probably supply the entire neighborhood, and that's going to be "sufficient" for a lot of people.

santadog:Wasilla Hillbilly: What remains to be seen is how it would effective the prices. I suspect the high end stuff would remain about the same with huge influxes of lesser grade for very cheap. If a big enough difference, you might see alot more bubble hash and such around.

Lived in Austin, Texas.. and now in Colorado. When I moved here in 2006, an ounce was the same price as in Austin for good quality bud (around $400). Now, I can get an ounce for $175.00 and it's better than the Texas variety. Prices didn't drop in Austin. We see a ton of hash here.

Interesting. Don't know why but I find it surprising that it would go that low. I guess when people are willing to spend upwards of $20-30 a gram for the best available even in semi-decrim areas, I would expect sellers to find a way to exploit that even if fully legalized. There's always someone willing to pay top dollar for whatever is considered the best or trendy. Similar to champagne.

Y'all want to know just how much weed is grown in California? And the environmental damage after the logging years done? And the cartels that apparently people don't want to admit are already here or get shot?

here ya go:

http://lostcoastoutpost.com/2012/nov/5/aerial-tour-grow-city/

/i live there//no, not that spot. not that one. might be close to the other one.///NorCA has a "suburbia" of weed grow ops.

Just some clarification, at least on the Washington initiative. Growing your own will still be illegal, the whole point of the initiative is to get more tax money. You'll need to but it from a licensed retailer. All the old penalties still apply for home growing.

By the way, if it does pass, I give it two years before Big Tobacco completely shuts down the small mom and pop sellers and has a monopoly on sales. I have a feeling they've been preparing for this for some time.

Mr Guy:SquiggsIN: Just like brewing your own beer or wine, with legalized cannabis there will be ridiculous regulations preventing the sale or transfer to other parties. Most people will seek distributors for the convenience factor. However, just like microbrewers/vintners, there will always be connoisseurs who see their products as an art form and would want to grow their own.

santadog: I live in Colorado. Right now "almost" anyone can grow their own stashes, and they / I don't. Anyone can grow "weed", not everyone can grow quality Med Mar. How many people grow their own tobacco? Anyone can grow tobacco.. but they don't.

Sorta, but people tend to miss the big point about marijuana. Achieving high end yields is really only particularly difficult when you're trying to hide it. If you were allowed to fence it off in your yard like your tomatoes, it's actually EASIER than tomatoes. It's the control needed for stealth and tight areas and producing a lot all at once that's hard. If it was legal, anyone could pick up a flat of marijuana seedlings at Lowes or Home Depot and produce regular quantities of sufficiently potent smokable marijuana. Most people won't bother to for the same reason as growing lettuce or tomatoes, NOT tobacco. Tobacco you actually need a reasonable amount of space to grow sufficient vegetative matter and reduce it down by drying. A decent size vegetable garden produce copious amounts of marijuana with only a couple plants, if you were allowed to let the things get to six feet tall and six feet wide.

Sure, people will always be able to produce denser, tastier, and more potent buds if they know what they are doing, but if I could replace my cherry tomatoes in my backyard with a marijuana bush of similar size, I could probably supply the entire neighborhood, and that's going to be "sufficient" for a lot of people.

We don't have to hide it. I don't have to hide it. It's NOT easier than tomatoes. Again, anyone can grow weed. It's an art to grow the good stuff. How do I know? Because I worked in a 5,000sqft grow facility in Longmont for over a year, and worked in the dispensary.The produce selection at the grocery stores are a great example. Anyone can grow a garden, and they don't.

The tobacco and beer analogies are weak, because their production requires lots more equipment and time than weed. Funny, people here who shout that growing weed is a mini-Manhattan-project never seem to describe the intricacies they allude to.

signaljammer:The tobacco and beer analogies are weak, because their production requires lots more equipment and time than weed. Funny, people here who shout that growing weed is a mini-Manhattan-project never seem to describe the intricacies they allude to.

//wee bit harder than tomatoes//emphasis on wee

Please stop pretending that growing actual GOOD cannabis is easy. Sure you can just throw some seeds in your backyard and get weed, but to actually have a strain that will kick your ass in one hit takes work.

Hell most people don't grow their own tomatoes, what makes you think they'll suddenly decide to grow cannabis?

Needs a doubtful tag. Legalizing that shiat isn't going to slow the cartels down in any way. They've grown too big and too powerful. It's just a lame ploy potheads use in hopes they can continue being potheads.

scottydoesntknow:Except in my experience mexican weed sucks so much. It stinks like ass, has waaaay too many sticks/seeds, and is dryer than an 80-year-old nun. The only reason people purchased mexican brick weed is because it's the only thing available. If (or when) legalized, the cartels would have to seriously ramp up their production/cultivation methods (which increases costs) or watch as every person passes their "Helado y Molta" push cart and goes into a legal herb shop.

scottydoesntknow:Wait, that's right! Most americans pay for the convenience. Growing GOOD cannabis is a science, and most people don't have the time or motivation to dedicate to that.

If it ever does become legal, some hippie liberal Johnny Cannabisseed would prolly throw free seeds down every ditch and embankment and public park in the country, and weed would be as free to all as dandelions are. Wouldn't that be nice?

Saruman_W:Needs a doubtful tag. Legalizing that shiat isn't going to slow the cartels down in any way. They've grown too big and too powerful. It's just a lame ploy potheads use in hopes they can continue being potheads.

It would most certainly make some impact on their operations. To what extent I can't say for sure, but either way, it doesn't necessarily matter. Legalizing marijuana is the right thing to do for so many reasons of which this is just one. I like to think it would lead to less violence, death and destruction of lives due to unneeded incarcerations.

SirEattonHogg:I'm the same - minus the headache. Eating it threw me for such a loop I actually had to tell my buddy that I was a bit freaked out. I didn't expect it at all. Thank goodness I didn't eat the whole brownie.

Never eat the whole brownie. Start with a quarter and wait an hour or more. I've seen brownies that contain two grams of hash. Just one of those could leave you catatonic well into the next day.

scottydoesntknow:signaljammer: The tobacco and beer analogies are weak, because their production requires lots more equipment and time than weed. Funny, people here who shout that growing weed is a mini-Manhattan-project never seem to describe the intricacies they allude to.

//wee bit harder than tomatoes//emphasis on wee

Please stop pretending that growing actual GOOD cannabis is easy. Sure you can just throw some seeds in your backyard and get weed, but to actually have a strain that will kick your ass in one hit takes work.

Hell most people don't grow their own tomatoes, what makes you think they'll suddenly decide to grow cannabis?

And you don't think that the fact that it's free won't make people accept the fact that they have to inhale 3 times instead of once?

Saruman_W:Needs a doubtful tag. Legalizing that shiat isn't going to slow the cartels down in any way. They've grown too big and too powerful. It's just a lame ploy potheads use in hopes they can continue being potheads.

The majority of cartel profits are from cannabis. They make a higher margin from manufacturing cocaine, meth, etc but the sheer volume of cannabis consumed means it's by far their largest source of income.

The US could cripple every Mexican cartel with legalization because eventually people would want quality, clean products that they can acquire without resorting to the black market. This will happen and it will hurt the Mexican cartels business. If that means Mexicans will come to America to start their own business so be it. At least the threat of violence will diminish because it wouldn't be illegal.

Mr Guy: scottydoesntknow: SquiggsIN: (I have a cousin that burns about a half an ounce a day)

I find that hard to believe. 14 grams a day? Does he do anything besides chain smoke one after the other?

To go through that much he's probably vaporizing large quantities of crappier weed.He smokes between a half and an entire ounce a day and it is chronic, not crap. He's the type of guy that rolls a joint while he's smoking a joint.

WeenerGord:scottydoesntknow: Wait, that's right! Most americans pay for the convenience. Growing GOOD cannabis is a science, and most people don't have the time or motivation to dedicate to that.

If it ever does become legal, some hippie liberal Johnny Cannabisseed would prolly throw free seeds down every ditch and embankment and public park in the country, and weed would be as free to all as dandelions are. Wouldn't that be nice?

You must not be a cannabis user. If you were, you'd know there is a world of difference between "ditch weed" and high-end buds.

CapeFearCadaver:santadog: CapeFearCadaver: Even if I have the funds I've never been able to go more than a quarter a month.Damnit, these threads always pop up when I'm in between paychecks :(

It's $175 per ounce here.

Ugh. Yeah, it's about $120 for a quarter of something really nice here.

/Oh, um... or so I've heard...

Before I get shot for posting, I'm down with legalization, and I don't smoke a goddam thing...HOWEVER...Humboldt trimmers are getting circa $200 per pound, according to the ones getting picked up by the cops around town here. A runner is getting $3-700 per depending on distance. Get it out of state in less than a day and add another 500. One person slipping through makes some serious bank on just 30 pounds.

Jesus Christ, that's just the weed. The meth is an entirely different issue.

That said, you guys on the east coast are getting hosed by 25 middle men. I hope your product is local or coming from Europe for what you're paying.

How much you go through personally is very dependant on your social life. If you have a lot of hanger-ons, like to break it out in gatherings, etc, an ounce a day wouldn't be that amazing. Of course, if you literally smoke that much just by yourself, that might be unusual.

Strategeryz0r:Am I the only one who finds it funny that Mexico is basically saying that 3 states in the US account for THIRTY PERCENT of the pot the cartels send up?

Way to represent Oregon/Washington/Colorado! USA! USA! USA!

Well, what they are saying is that large of an area providing easy access to marijuana would obviously lead to black market transfer of the good stuff to other states where it's not legal which would have a sizable affect on cartel distribution everywhere. And they're right. Why deal with a bunch of scary mexican drug cartels when you can get any of millions of adult americans to buy it legally for you? Or just insert yourself somewhere in the supply chain where it's being grown legally and mess with the numbers - which will definitely happen.

signaljammer:The tobacco and beer analogies are weak, because their production requires lots more equipment and time than weed.

Um, not true. You can make (good) beer at home with nothing but a stock pot, spoon, thermometer, and a bucket. For ales, you can just leave your bucket of fermenting beer in a closet or in your room. Even with brewing all grain, you only have to add a large cooler with a false bottom to that list (can be put together at home for about $50-$80). Yet you need only about 3-4 weeks until the brew is ready to drink.

Growing (good) MJ requires more power, supplies, and time. Hell, flowering alone will take an average minimum of 2 months.

SmartestFunniest2012-11-06 01:04:21 PMSirEattonHogg: I actually had a pot brownie from an SF dispensary 2 months ago (a buddy gets in on an expired prescription for "back pain").

Holy crap that was strong. I never was into pot because smoking it has little effect on me, but eating it? Honestly, that was like intense.

CSB, dude.

My friend works for a large company and was in Amsterdam auditing their IT procedures. One of the workers there gave him a brownie and later asked how it tasted. Then said it was a pot brownie.

If he ever had a pot brownie, he'd know the diff. It ain't that tasty. Luckily, I work for an industry that allows me to blaze or snort up. I don't partake, but nice to know I am not beholden to such restrictions.

Leeds:scottydoesntknow: signaljammer: The tobacco and beer analogies are weak, because their production requires lots more equipment and time than weed. Funny, people here who shout that growing weed is a mini-Manhattan-project never seem to describe the intricacies they allude to.

//wee bit harder than tomatoes//emphasis on wee

Please stop pretending that growing actual GOOD cannabis is easy. Sure you can just throw some seeds in your backyard and get weed, but to actually have a strain that will kick your ass in one hit takes work.

Hell most people don't grow their own tomatoes, what makes you think they'll suddenly decide to grow cannabis?

And you don't think that the fact that it's free won't make people accept the fact that they have to inhale 3 times instead of once?

Money is a powerful motivator. Yep, a powerful motivator.

Garden grown vegetables are free and of higher quality than those in the store... yet most people still buy.

HAH Mexico is about as stupid as the potheads I know. Who benefits from legalized marijuana? RJR and Phillip Morris, they already have declining tabacco sales, access to farmers who have the tools to grow/cultivate/separate and dry, AND have the equipment to mass produce cigarettes.

Economy of scale, those two will be able to undercut every other legal means of obtaining weed.

DoBeDoBeDo:HAH Mexico is about as stupid as the potheads I know. Who benefits from legalized marijuana? RJR and Phillip Morris, they already have declining tabacco sales, access to farmers who have the tools to grow/cultivate/separate and dry, AND have the equipment to mass produce cigarettes.

Economy of scale, those two will be able to undercut every other legal means of obtaining weed.

DoBeDoBeDo:HAH Mexico is about as stupid as the potheads I know. Who benefits from legalized marijuana? RJR and Phillip Morris, they already have declining tabacco sales, access to farmers who have the tools to grow/cultivate/separate and dry, AND have the equipment to mass produce cigarettes.

Economy of scale, those two will be able to undercut every other legal means of obtaining weed.

Grow it? Marijuana is easier than tobacco to grow and process, it's easy to do at home.